Yasmin Siraj – I remember her from last year. Her parents meet at Harvard business school or something. Um, they said she had an injured foot and something was for sure wrong because most of her jumps were wild. Singles and falls. It was just sad. But I think it was a great experience for her to have. (Note to Rachael Flatt: You can skate injured at Nationals, not Worlds.) Ohh Mark Micthell is her coach! His long program at Worlds was awesome.

Nina Jiang – Would it have killed her to smile? Such a pretty skater for 14, missed some jumps but overall pleasant, just no expression on her face, it didn’t even look like she was breathing.

Rachael Flatt – What is she wearing? But that was great. Finally some emotion!

Vanessa Lam – Why does she always wear long gloves? I think she shared well, but honestly I couldn’t see pass the blue – so blue!

Christina Gao – That’s some red dress! But she didn’t look right in it, it’s too old and gaudy for her. She needed a bit more performance wise.

Mirai Nagasu – Love her dress! A one-shoulder dream in a beautiful light blue with crystals cascading down. Aww…she had a rough skate. I really liked the beginning and I would have been there with her even through the falls but she wasn’t in it herself.

Caroline Zhang – I do not like that dress. The lower silver band shortens her. An ok skate, I found the violin music a little buying at times, but the ending was really good!

Ashley Wagner – Did you see that?! That was magnificent! Totally confident, totally beautiful, totally  told a story. A beautiful black swan. Every jump landed (she did pop a tripe salchow though) and her sound were super fast. Her choreography was great too. She’s in a spiral at one point and she does this incremental movement with her arms, just exciting and great! She might win this thing!

Alissa Czisny – Honestly, that was awful. Not just because of the two falls but because it was boring.

Agnes Zawadski – Pretty dress, blue for Rhapsody In Blue. I actually was watching her program and the second time she fell I screamed out “Ashley won!” But I hope Agnes makes the world team.

Agnes  Zawadski’s jump were amazing, Alisa Czisny’s program was really pink, Mirai Nagasu’s was forgettable except for that wild landing on the triple Loop, Ashley  Wagner’s skating was totally on point but what was the program about? At the start I thought it was going to be like a little hoe down music but then it wasn’t, but the dress would have gone with that, maybe it was modern dance like?

Not that the kid can’t skate, but after not seeing her skate in three years I’d think she’d be closer to making that Olympic team. She’s not. She’s not even as good as when I last saw her.

I don’t really care about her skating career but I’m kinda pissed at myself for ever getting out of her way. Like many times I stood by the boards while she ran her programs over and over and over again.

Why do we adult skaters do that? Younger skaters don’t do that for other skaters. It’s probably because we know we’re not going to the Olympics and we don’t want to stand in the way (literally) of these kids having a shot but how many of them really make it? How many of them even stay in skating past age 13?

I don’t want to be a roadblock in anyone’s training but I paid the same $5 for that ice that their mom did and if they want it that bad they’ll find a way to afford private ice.

I just wish I had brought my camera because my scratch spins were so fast. Because I did my spins to the music I pulled in really tight. And I my Waltz jump might be getting better…I’ll bring my camera tomorrow so we’ll see.

From the get-go there were so many reasons for me to want to throw my skates in the garbage (I so need new skates! Did you hear Klingbeil is closing?) Before I even got on the ice the big stupid-head skating director makes a point of saying hello to me, which he never did before (so a couple of months ago the dufus yells at me for skating with another adult skater, says I’m giving her a lesson, which I wasn’t, and says she’s going to sue me if she falls and I should learn the law…blah blah blah. I don’t disagree with what he said from a legal standpoint, but he was such an asswipe about it. And if I was the kid whose lesson he stopped to yell at me I’d be way pissed at him.) so I know this guy has his eye on me.

Then I was talking to another adult skater and I blurted out “I don’t even want to skate.” Which I don’t. And I do. I just don’t want to skate like what I’m skating now. I need to work harder on and off the ice. Get back to yoga in the morning and ice dancing and I’m already back to ballet – which is killing my arm!

I woke up and just didn’t want to skate anymore so I told my husband I was quitting skating and took my dogs for a walk.

While walking I fell off the sidewalk and as I’m falling I’m thinking “I shouldn’t be losing my balance I’m a figure skater..but wait I quit.. I’m going to fall all the time now…falling isn’t that bad…” and then my face hit the pavement!

So after tending to my wounds (as confirmed by my mother I got my first skinned knee!) I checked my horoscope, which I think always pertains to skating, and it said:

Tue, 3 Jan 2012 for TAURUS (Apr 21 -May 21): “In order to get something that you want you have to do something that you don’t much feel like doing. No change there then. This is Planet Earth -intergalactic spiritual home of the awkward compromise. You give a little here, you take a little there and, with a bit of luck, you get just about enough to make it all worthwhile. Right now, you want to know whether to put energy into a certain plan. It looks as if it could prove very exhausting and demanding. But if you want to get what you want from 2012, you should most definitely pursue it.”

So now I’m all excited to skate! I just have to wait a few days because I sprained my upper arm in the fall and can’t tie my skates (or put on a bra or wash my hair, or drive. I’m pretty much Bob Dole for a week.) but I’m for sure not quitting skating. I just needed to fall in the street to knock some sense into me.

I still love figure skating, just:
1. Ice is available at the most inconvenient times,
2. The rink is so far away,
3. It takes up so much time,
4. I’m sick of worrying what I’m going to do if I break a leg,
5. I’m never going to be in the Olympics.

This doesn’t mean I’m going to sit on the couch all day. There are so many things I can do if I quit skating. I have a tennis court right outside my window, a pool a few feet away, a bike path, an ocean!

I just feel bad about telling my teacher.